Few people have thought as much about modern society as Zygmunt Bauman. His is the renowned theory of liquid modernity, which he launched in the year 2000 and which manifests itself in 2025 with chilling accuracy. Traditional models have fallen, the security of yesteryear no longer exists. We are left with only a liquid future that does not seem to take any precise form.

In the midst of this world, in which the rules change every minute and we have to adapt to the constant variations, Bauman reflected on happiness. Because despite having few certainties, in our liquid society there is one that prevails: the forms of happiness that we know always end up at the doors of a store.

Consumerism in the liquid society

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The solid society that Bauman speaks of in his writings was one that depended on stability. The family was a fixed entity. It was common for a person to dedicate their entire life to the same job, and the environment that surrounded you when you were born was quite similar to the one that said goodbye to you with your last breath.

The changes were slow, gradual, and could be seen coming from a distance.. In 21st century society, the only constant is change. Every day is completely different from the last, and we are exposed to all these changes thanks to our screens, which keep us informed up to the minute of how our universe is transforming.

In the liquid society, people no longer have the same job throughout their lives. Now we “reinvent” ourselves. We are not even stable in love. More than 50% of marriages in Spain end in divorceaccording to a report from the CEU Demographic Observatory.

And in this liquid world, the perception of happiness and personal worth has also changed. Our value no longer depends on what we dobut about what we consume.

Happiness, identity and consumerism

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The mental leap is relatively simple. Identity is a fundamental pillar of mental health and happiness. Self-knowledge allows us to moderate our emotional reactionsbuild healthier relationships, align our actions with our values ​​and priorities, and, ultimately, make better decisions to have a happy life.

But if in this liquid society that Bauman defines we are no longer what we do, but rather what we consume, the material takes on a new dimension. It becomes a reflection of our identity. That is why Bauman maintains that we have forgotten how to be happy.

“I have to admit that there are many ways to be happy,” explains the sociologist in an interview he gave to the world in 2016, months before his death. “And there are some that I won’t even try,” he continued, “but I do know that, whatever your role in today’s society, all ideas of happiness always end up in a store. The flip side of the coin is that, when we go to stores to buy happiness, we forget about other ways to be happy, like working together, meditating or studying.”

Intangible forms of happiness

The satisfaction generated by the acquisition of a new object, the joy of living a unique experience for which we have paid, has monopolized attention in the 21st century.

Bauman does not even deny that there is no happiness factor in what we can buy, but rather that denounces that by becoming addicted to this material and immediate satisfaction that occurs when payingwe are forgetting other ways to be happy. Ways that, in my opinion, are essential for the functioning of our society.

Neuroscience studies what chemically produces happiness in us with a certain amazement, because curiously many of the tasks that improve our mental health are those that we do less and less frequently.

Hormones of happiness

Our brain secretes happiness hormones, for example, when we exercise. Also when we interact with another person in general, and more particularly when we coordinate efforts or help that someone. The mind, of course, reacts well to tasks such as meditating, reading, studying, singing.painting and many other tasks that we don’t always have time for. Playing, by the way, is among them.

The consumer society, the liquid society, has forgotten all these simple and accessible ways to achieve happiness, if we understand it as an inconstant, but fully satisfying emotion. Being with our loved ones, according to Harvard University, is the most stable way to achieve happinessFor example.

But as long as we continue immersed in disproportionate consumerism, lost in the Internet to, as the expert says in the aforementioned interview, “shield ourselves from confrontation” and “sweep under the rug” the problems and all those people who do not think like us, We will be condemned to depend on money to achieve a little of that satisfaction that we all crave.